The Florida Museum Fish Collection is second only to the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian) in number of specimen records, as reported in the most recent survey of U.S. fish collections. The Florida Museum Fish Collection has added more records to its catalog during the interval between U.S. Fish Collection surveys than any other collection.
Although global in scope, principal strengths of the UF Collection are elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays), western Atlantic reef fishes, western and eastern Atlantic shelf and deep water marine fishes, North American freshwater fishes, and freshwater fishes from SE Asia. Also important are large collections of freshwater fishes from Central America, South America, and the West Indies.
Collection Announcement
The multi-year project (2022 – 2025) of moving the UF fish collection to our new special collections building is complete. All collection preparations are barcoded and scannable adhesive barcode labels applied to all specimen lot containers (vials, jars, tanks). The new collection and data management system, made possible by a novel windows barcode scanning tool that works in real-time with Specify software for biological collections, allows for fuller use of valuable collection storage space while eliminating the need to reposition collection objects according to phylogenetic or taxonomic changes.
All specimen movement is tracked, use of the collection is better understood, and total facility capacity is known. Workflow benefits include faster, more automated loan processing. More effort is now directed towards identification work and cataloging the backlog. Please contact us for new location details and visitor access.